None of our prospects are going out of their way to read advertising.
But stories?
When you tether one to a timeless direct response theme, the answer is “yes” — a resounding “YES!”
Here’s an alt-health hit from yesteryear that remains a timeless direct response approach.
What is it?
Conventional wisdom is all WRONG! [Read more…]
Here’s a successful mail package for the supplement “Reconnect.”
It’s boasts a textbook offer lead. [Read more…]
In some areas, things have changed more in a year than they have in forty years.
Take seminar marketing.
Platform sellers know that having warm bodies in a room they must TRAVEL to get to… beats an ocean of remote souls on a Zoom conference, who can bail at a moment’s notice.
While this commodity trading lead generation insertion hails from 1981, it captures the psychological profile of the commodities trader and the market. [Read more…]
In many ways, things were simpler in the marketing world 25 years ago.
One of the highlights of that simpler era was the JPDK marketing model — the Jeff Paul-Dan Kennedy model.
What was the JPDK model? [Read more…]
Lots of marketers and copywriters are preoccupied with the latest and the greatest to the exclusion of everything else.
But for those of us who’ve been around the block a few times, we realize that most of the time, the new wine is just an old bottle with a fresh label.
Here’s a 2006 advertising lead that’s been reborn in 2020 and is mailing today.
You may have seen this oldie but a goody already. [Read more…]
This 2021 supplement insertion is reminiscent of the cartoonish illustration in Dr. Weckesser’s:
“How to make your computer as easy to use as your telephone…”
It’s too early to speak of this ad’s staying power, but it definitely must be grabbing readership. [Read more…]
When it comes to selling self-help, business development, improvement and productivity… you can’t go wrong with the classics.
Because all of these areas have little to do with shiny objects and today’s latest apps.
It’s hard to surpass the track record of Getting Things Done. [Read more…]
The Guinness Guide to Cheese is featured in the essential Ogilvy On Advertising.
Yes, this is a brand ad and a damn fine one in the annals of food advertising. The layout with the photos and summaries of the various cheeses make for irresistible reading and of course, all paths lead to Rome… uh, make that Guinness. [Read more…]
If you desire entrée into the world of high priced serums and supplements, there are a only handful of marketers you NEED to study.
This brand is on the short list. [Read more…]
Some email marketers specialize in one kind of subject line.
I’m a huge fan of puns. When I was growing up, The Little Rascals were running heavily in syndication on TV.
In one episode, a grizzled old school teacher asks a pupil: “Can you give me a sentence with the word ‘isthmus’ in it?”
The rascal shoots back: “Isthmus be my lucky day.” [Read more…]
This is a great lead for products that could be banned or made illegal due to new regulations, laws or administrations.
Think of the diet supplement, Ephedra, before it was banned in 2004.
This particular package is mailing in January 2021 and it bears some similarity to the “October Surprise” lead. [Read more…]
Audio-Forum ran this campaign for TWENTY solid years, starting in 1977.
The great Don Hauptman was the genius behind it.
¿See that inverted exclamation point at the beginning of the headline?
Quoting Rodney Dangerfield…
¡That little inverted exclamation mark… doesn’t get any respect!
But it went a LONG ways toward capturing attention and propelling the proof element packed headline.
Long before the Web and the host of competitors came on the scene in the last 20 years, Audio-Forum was IT when it came to language learning in the States.
Would you like to know one of the joys of archiving winning ads, ?
Whenever I find an ad like this, that had thousands of insertions from 1962 to 1975, I’m compelled to ask the question:
Why was this ad such a SMASH hit? [Read more…]
This “hot off the presses” 2021 Bottomline Personal magalog actually arrived without a reply form.
I’m not sure whether this affected just yours truly or was an error across the board. I’m almost certain the reply card did not slip out while in the mail system because the magalog was folded in half, self mailer style.
One can see the imprint of a reply form on page 14, but believe it or not, there is NO way to reply to this hard-hitting, fascination laden promotion, even if one wanted to. [Read more…]
How often do you see a full fledged real estate investment pitch like this in the New York Times?
This ad was on fire in the Wild West of workshops in real estate investing and had thousands of insertions. [Read more…]
This was one of the most successful advertorial series of all time.
NGC Sports were BIG TIME in sport fishing and golf and had TENS of thousands of insertions in everything from local newspapers… to trade publications like Oklahoma Farm Bureau… all the way to Newsweek magazine and the Wall Street Journal.
These are advertorials that would make John Caples PROUD.
What happened to them? [Read more…]
Here’s one of the alternative health products du jour, the lymph node patch.
The claims are numerous and BIG in this December 2020 package marked up with Japanese characters and before-and-after pictures. [Read more…]
Not much changes over time with the mechanics of business development.
This print ad series was published in mortgage industry trade journals at the end of the 1990s. [Read more…]
St. Paul Research really plays some HARDBALL with email marketing.
In this ubiquitous world of Zoom meetings and access codes, these are the sort of subject lines that have been dominating my inbox lately.
I’m anxious to test a few in the New Year.
, customer service is trying to get a hold of you… (Customer Service – St. Paul Research) [Read more…]
This tiny bookalog captured HUGE response for well over a half-decade.
In this package’s case, hand addressing and a personalized lift letter played a big role in keeping this package in the mail for so long.
And these supplements sell for DOUBLE what most supplements go for. [Read more…]
Is it really possible for fledgling copywriters to beat out advertising veterans when it comes to drumming up business?
Ogilvy’s “Magic Lanterns” give any neophyte a road map.
It starts with demonstrating deeper knowledge than your competitors. [Read more…]
Welcome to the mad, mad world of martial arts marketing.
These martial artists are also some of the best in the business at direct mail marketing.
Notice this piece is mailed in a plain white #10 envelope with a hand addressed font and a good ‘ol first class stamp.
You can tell a real copywriting connoisseur must have gotten his hands on this package twenty years or so ago.
It’s a little weather-beaten and there are some hand-written notes and mark-ups in the letter.
Oh, and since this was from the early days of the 21st Century, there’s the option to order this home study system on audio cassette.
No matter. This one stands the test of time, as all good business development products (and pitches!) should. [Read more…]
For educational advertising and home study marketing that SELLS — this company is the gold standard. [Read more…]
Here’s one hot off the presses for The George Guilder Report.
You might say this is the direct mail variation of the “Great Reset.”
Get Ready for the $16.8 Trillion “REBOOT” of 2020 and Beyond
“If anybody in your family uses online banking, smartphone apps or social media … [Read more…]
